


Shame and Embarrassment Are Two Different Things

by malachailatte



Category: Marvel, Spider-Man (Comicverse), Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: M/M, You Decide, ah i love venom, anne is mentioned once, cause that bitch doesn't actually have a gender, depends on the person as to the pronoun, eddie's tired, i'll stop talking to myself in the tags now, isn't that just the film tho, so anyway, this could be considered fluff?, tho a sleepy one, venom flirts, venom is a lil shit, venom uses he/they/we pronouns, yes this is based off those myspace pics, you know the ones
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-03
Updated: 2018-11-03
Packaged: 2019-08-14 10:17:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16490690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/malachailatte/pseuds/malachailatte
Summary: When Venom logs onto Eddie's computer and finds a bunch of embarrassing old photos from when Eddie was younger (*cough* Tom Hardy's MySpace pics *cough*), Eddie finds himself explaining to Venom about a few strange Earth customs, and Venom shares a few of their own.---Aka Venom is a curious (and aggressively flirty) little shit and Eddie is way too tired to fight them.





	Shame and Embarrassment Are Two Different Things

**Author's Note:**

> Enjoy, you likely monsterfucker, you.

It had been a relatively uneventful afternoon.

Or, Eddie reasoned, as uneventful as it gets with a symbiote inside you.

The day had gone smoothly. Venom had been fairly quiet, spending so much time resting that Eddie could've sworn they were semi-nocturnal. He'd even managed to eat something without the symbiote popping up to complain about wanting to go out and hunt. And, to match his mood, bright spring sunshine was filtering through the open window to form a soft evening glow. Eddie would've gone for a walk in it, appreciated the nice weather for once, but Venom would've wanted to eat someone. It wasn't like Eddie could leave them behind. And anyway, Venom was asleep on Eddie's shoulder right now. Somehow it seemed unfair to wake them.

Venom, for all the murder and sarcasm, was a pretty cute sleeper. The symbiote had essentially taken residence on Eddie's shoulder, a little head often leaning or resting on it. Without their teeth and with closed eyes, Venom could've been mistaken for a kitten. A kitten made of black goo.

 **"We can hear you, Eddie,"** the symbiote yawned, the deep, booming voice reverberating through his mind clashing with Venom's diminutive appearance.  **"We are not a kitten."**

"What's wrong with kittens, V?" Eddie asked.

**"Nothing. They are delicious. But we are Venom. Not a kitten."**

Eddie smiled. "Whatever you say. Go back to sleep, buddy."

**"Stop thinking then. We cannot sleep when you are thinking. It is too loud."**

As Venom settled, Eddie tried to make his mind quiet for the symbiote, but as soon as he tried, his thoughts became louder. That happened sometimes. Even before Venom had inhabited him, his thoughts were chaotic and shouty. And random, more often than not. It was irritating. Distracting. It meant he couldn't do his work properly without intrusive thoughts getting in the way.  _This_ was an intrusive thought process right now.

Although now, Venom was getting annoyed that he was still thinking.

Before Eddie could react, Venom's jaws were stretched around his head, intent on biting down.  **"You. Are. Still. Thinking."**

"God, you're demanding," Eddie groaned. "Venom, I love you, you know I do, but fuck off."

Saliva dripped from Venom's fangs as their head grew bigger, staring at Eddie with murderous intent. Then they stopped, their eyes wide with what seemed to be... wonder? 

**"What is MySpace?"**

Eddie stared at Venom. "Why are you asking?"

**"You just thought about it. What is MySpace?"**

_Shit. Why is my train of thought so damn random?_

"An online thing. I thought you wanted to sleep." Eddie got up and walked to the kitchen, trying to ignore how Venom was materialising next to him, nine feet, fangs, huge white eyes and all.

While still deep and booming, Venom's voice became demanding.  **"There are embarrassing photos. You thought of MySpace, and then you thought of the word 'photos'. It made your cheeks turn red. That means embarrassment. Show us."**

_I'd really do well to remember that Venom can read my mind._

"No. Venom, you can't make me. Now sleep or be quiet, I've got things to do."

But Venom wasn't about to give up that easily. Never, in the whole six months or so Eddie had spent with Venom, had they given up easily.

The symbiote slithered back inside Eddie, the slightly cold sensation when they entered making him shiver. Then his arm jerked. Once... twice... three times.

"Venom," Eddie warned. "No."

 **"Venom, yes."** The symbiote gave a low chuckle before Eddie felt himself being forced to walk forward, slow steps towards his laptop. Struggling was useless, Venom was way too strong for him to fight. And unfortunately, they knew it.

Once he was made to sit down, Eddie held his arms above his head, way away from the keyboard. "I'm not searching for them."

**"Eddie, we can move your arms. Have you forgotten the first time we properly communicated?"**

"That was at gunpoint. A little different."

Venom made a noise that sounded somewhere between a scoff and a growl.  **"If you keep fighting us, we will wait until you are asleep tonight, and then take your body into the city where we will eat every person we come across. Then we will pile the heads of every person we eat at the end of your bed for you to wake up to."**

"You are  _obsessed_ with heads, do you have a fetish or something?" Eddie groaned, lowering his arms to type his password.

**"What is a fetish?"**

"I'm not explaining." Eddie clicked enter and his homescreen popped up, but not before Venom leaned in and said with a devilish grin,  **"Your password is anne14095?"**

"I haven't managed to change it yet! Leave me alone. Damn, I need to teach you manners and the meaning of the word 'no'."

**"We know what no means. We just do not care. Show us these photos or die."**

With a scowl, Eddie slowly scrolled over to the photos and clicked them, going through the albums until he reached the oldest ones. The page itself was deleted a long time ago but for some reason, he'd kept the photos and saved them to his laptop, just to have a chuckle over now and then. This was a decision he now regretted.

With a resigned sigh, he enlarged the first one.

Venom stared at it, tilting their head to the side. Their large jaws stretched into something resembling a non-sinister smile (or as non-sinister as a smile packed full of glistening fangs could get), and their eyes became smaller, seemingly creased with laughter. Eddie continued to click through them, choosing to ignore Venom sniggering from behind him.

 **"You look like an idiot, Eddie,"** they laughed.  **"We see why you are ashamed of these photos."**

"V, I'm not ashamed of them. They're embarrassing, sure, but a lot of people do it. It's not anything  _bad_."

**"If you are embarrassed by them, why are you not ashamed?"**

"Shame and embarrassment are two different things. Shame indicates I regret taking them and posting them online, which I don't really. Most people do it at some point."

Venom adopted a facial expression that looked something like confusion.  **"Humans do this regularly? Why is your species so strange?"**

Eddie chuckled. "Hey, your guess is as good as mine. Sometimes we take weird pictures and post them online. Humans do it a lot, mostly for attention, or as a dare, or just for some fun. Ain't that deep."

 **"Hmm."**  The symbiote stretched out a talon and poked the screen, aiming at one of the pictures.  **"You are not wearing much in this one. Why?"**

"I felt like it? It was a bit of fun, and I personally don't think I look too bad," Eddie replied, watching Venom slowly smile.

**"You look better now."**

The flirty, offhand comment made Eddie blush. "Aw, thanks. You're not too bad yourself."

Venom slid backward, away from the screen, until they were back at Eddie's side.  **"Earth customs are strange. But we suppose that our planet also has strange customs."**

"Like what?" Eddie asked. "You've never really told me much about your home, apart from how you were a loser and nobody really liked you. Come on, tell me something. You did drag me over here to look at photos of me without my permission."

**"This is true. What would you like to know?"**

"Okay." Eddie thought hard. Venom didn't really open up much about their home life, so these questions had to count. "Do your people's customs have anything to do with your hatred for Atom?"

 **"Interesting question,"** Venom said, resting their head in Eddie's lap.  **"They likely do. For example, our people strongly dislike cowardice and favor the strong. There, we are considered both a weakling and a coward, so Atom would often bully us for this. He once attempted drowning us as an experiment for our English class. Nobody stopped him."**

Eddie stared at the symbiote, eyes wide. "You're considered a coward on your planet?"

**"Yes. But humans do not prove to be worthy opponents because you are all so small. Killing and eating you is no hard task, and does not warrant congratulations."**

"Thanks, V, appreciate it. So you and Atom were in the same English class? Was it an elective or something?"

**"Elective? It was a class, why do you call it an elective? What is an elective?"**

"An optional class, Venom."

Their skin pulsing, Venom transformed into a small puppy, still curled up on Eddie.  **"Oh. That makes sense. But yes. We and Atom were in the same English class, and as part of a culture project, he wanted to demonstrate how small stature makes a being easier to kill."**

"So he tried to kill you?" Eddie, while well aware of the intensity of Venom's background, was taken aback. "Guess he's been a bitch since the start, huh?"

 **"He has been an ass since he was born, this is true."** Venom stretched themselves out.  **"We are hungry. Can we go and find food?"**

"Oh, you're asking my permission now?" As he said it, Eddie closed his laptop and got up, feeling Venom swirling around his stomach and chest.

The symbiote nudged his cheek with their hand, retracting their talons so they didn't cut him.  **"When it comes to feeding, we care about how you feel. You are our host, after all. It is your body we inhabit."**

Eddie looked out of the window. Unlike before Venom had awoken, the evening sunlight was quickly draining away, the sky becoming darker with every minute that passed. Soon, it would be night. And night was Venom's perfect cover. At night, they were just a shadow, and at night, crime reigned. What better time existed to go out and feed on the worst the city had to offer?

"Alright, buddy. We can go out. But on one condition: please don't force me to show you old half-naked photos again." Eddie was mostly joking, but Venom nodded seriously.

 **"That is fair. And besides,"** they said with a stroke of Eddie's hair,  **"you can always take some new half-naked photos."**

Eddie grinned. "You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

Venom glided up Eddie's arms, letting their silence act as an answer to the question they had been asked. And just before the slippery black lifeform reached Eddie's face, he asked, "Mask?"

**"Copy."**

With that, they slid out of the open window and into the night.


End file.
